Raiders Coach Bisaccia On Ruggs DUI Crash That Killed Woman: ‘It’s A Terrible Lapse In Judgment Of The Most Horrific Kind’
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Victim: Tina O. Tintor, 23, was identified as the woman killed in a 2013 Toyota Rav4 Tuesday morning. A dog in the car died, too, after vehicle caught on fire from crash.
Driver: Henry Ruggs III, 22, accused of driving as fast as 156 MPH before slamming his Corvette into Tintor’s car at 127 MPH on Rainbow Boulevard.
Charges: DUI causing death, prison sentence of two to 20 years; reckless driving, prison sentence of one to six years.
Blood alcohol: Ruggs, two hours after crash, tested for .161, more than twice the legal limit of .08.
Bail: $150,000; state requested $1 million; also firearm found in Ruggs’s Corvette.
Passenger in Ruggs vehicle: Girlfriend, Kiara Kilgo-Washington.
Raiders: released Ruggs Tuesday night.
DA Steve Wolfson Quote: ” I’ve never seen a case in my 41 years here in Las Vegas of a person who is charged with a crime driving in excess of 150 miles an hour.”
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Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia:
First of all, we want to express our sincere condolences to the victim’s family. A person lost their life yesterday morning and we think it’s important to keep the focus on that as we talk about this tragic event. We’re deeply saddened for everyone affected, especially the victim’s family. That being said, we love Henry Ruggs and want him to know that. It’s a terrible lapse in judgment of the most horrific kind, it’s something that he will have to live with the rest of his life. The gravity of the situation is not lost on anyone here and we understand and respect the loss of life.
Bisaccia on the Raiders releasing Ruggs: “To be perfectly frank, I don’t really know if I can put into words the emotional feelings that certainly I went through and certainly I can’t speak for our players or our coaches, or our owner or our organization. I just know that for me as a parent and a person that cares about young people and that deals with young people every day, I really don’t know if I can quantify what the emotions are. So, with that being said I think late last night or late yesterday afternoon as time went on and the organization gained more information…I think you read our first statement, but I think we all gained more information.
“Certainly, as Mark [Davis] gained more information, I think our official team met upstairs and I think we came to the conclusion and Owner Mark thought it was best for the organization to do that at that particular time. I think there is two separate entities, there is Henry Ruggs the football player, which is no longer a part of the Raiders, and then Henry Ruggs the person, who is certainly going through what he is going through and is going to have the pay the consequences for the actions.”
The Raiders also made quarterback Derek Carr available to the media.
Carr is typically talkative about his feelings and this is just a part of what he said Wednesday: “My emotions have been on a rollercoaster so to speak this year. My heart goes out so much. I’ll try and say it with a straight face because I’ve already been emotional about every bit of this. But to the family, to all the families involved, no one ever wants to see this, whether it’s a football player or not, you never want to see something like this happen. It broke my wife and I’s heart, honestly. We talked about it a little bit, but I can only talk about it so much.”
For me personally, in my own life, I have experienced loss. So, I know that feeling and so my heart first goes to the families that are involved. There are things that happen in life for all of us that we don’t have control over, and you wish you did. I have 1,000 questions I wish I could ask, but I don’t get those opportunities. I don’t understand everything and why certain things happen. I just forever have relied on the foundation of who I am, which is my faith. I’m going to stand on that when it’s hard and I’m going to stand on that when it’s easy. That’s just who I’m going to be when I can control something and when I can’t. When it comes to this situation, there’s so many things out of our control but then I do sit back and I think, ‘Was there something…Did I not let him know that I would be there for him at 3 a.m.?’ I want to be better. I really look at everything in my life as a learning experience. Could I have been better to help or something? I just wish I could’ve done something. I look at it that way. Could I have done anything to help? Even when it seems impossible, is there any little thing I could’ve done better? I know it’s a crazy thing to even think or say, but I’m always looking at trying to be a better person. — Raiders quarterback Derek Carr
Henry Ruggs III Photos: RaidersReaction:
From the Raiders Facebook page, where more than 4.4K people commented.
